The other day I was wondering why there wasn’t a single spooky monster story on my site. Monsters are cool. They are terrifying. They don’t let you sleep at night. Almost everything in life relates to it. The dark syncs with it, reminding you of a hysterical movie you watched, or a cool monster story you once came across in your life.
Lucky for us, a friend narrated to me an intriguing monster story the other day. It is one of a kind owing to the suspense it builds up. So without wasting any more time, let’s get to it. There goes your monster story, our first monster story for The Darkest Blog. Happy reading:
Monster Story: Under the Crimson Cloud
Carl was sprawled out on a beach. The sun gradually drowned. Waves surged in the backdrop. He stared at the vast expanse ahead. It was difficult to confine its reach. Horizon, elusive. It seemed to meet somewhere in the sky. To witness a beauty like that was simply therapeutic. He thought about it. Reflected on how much he loved the sea. His fingers found the sand. Took a fistful of it and then let it slide off his hand. He wondered where his family was. They had promised to meet him at that very spot.
Then he lied down for a bit. His eyes met the slow crawling clouds – white with that crimson tinge of a tired sun. He kept looking at them pass him by, one by one as he wondered how grateful he was to his family. Ron, his big brother, was loads of fun. He couldn’t have asked for a better friend.
His mother and father pampered him with all the love there is in the world. For them he was a child even though he was 32 now. By golly, he loved all that attention! After all it took his mind off his broken marriage. The three of them were his only respite, a pleasant welcome from a tiring sluggish office job that constantly gnawed at his soul, and a life of guilt, sorrow and regrets. If it weren’t for such family plans, he would be as good as dead, he thought.
Meeting his Brother
In the remotest corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of a darker shade of a red cloud arrive out of nowhere. He didn’t pay attention; he was well lost in his reverie.
Suddenly he heard his brother shout from somewhere,
“Carl! Carl!”
He woke up at once to that noise, and found his brother scampering towards him. Before Carl could even move he had fallen on his lap.
“Ron! What the……What happened?”
His brother’s chest was painted in red. His throat slit. He was trying hard to stop the blood from oozing out. He gurgled in pain and yet somehow managed to warn him in a broken voice.
“Take this!”
he held out a chalice.
“It’s the only way to stop them from coming.”
Terrified, Carl didn’t know what to do, or what was happening. Just then Ron looked up and saw the red cloud heading towards them.
“It’s coming. They are headed here. Hold it, you have to keep it with you at all costs.”
Ron bellowed in pain.
“Who Ron? Who is coming?”
As Ron took his final breath, he pointed towards the sky and said,
“Those monsters in the cloud.”
Just then Carl looked up, as he felt the cloud thunder and growl. It was speeding up now, galloping at full speed towards him. Scared he looked down at the fallen chalice and at once picked it up. To his surprise the red cloud slowed down, as if realizing somehow he had the chalice. But it was moving towards him, nevertheless even though it was a tad dormant now.
Finding his Parents
He looked at his brother. Ron lay there in a pool of blood. He cried and cried, never letting go of the chalice in the process. He looked up once again, the red cloud was heading towards the road now. Suddenly he was reminded of his parents.
“Mom, Dad!”
he ran towards the road as fast as his legs could carry.
Luckily he found his mother and father heading towards him with a surprised look on his face. The red cloud growled behind.
“Run Mom! Run Dad! They are coming, look!”
he pointed towards the cloud that seemed to somehow pace up now. It looked monstrous enough for his parents to start running.
All three of them ran and ran. The Red Cloud thundered and roared behind them chasing.
When they reached a crossroad, Carl said to his parents,
“You take the left, I will take the right. Let’s meet up at the town square.”
With that they diverged, Carl forever looking behind as he huffed and puffed. He had almost covered a couple of miles when he glanced back to check. No sign of the cloud. It had become awfully quiet.
At the Town Square
He walked the rest of the way till he reached the town square. His parents were already waiting for him. He went straight and hugged them tight, told them frantically all about what happened to Ron.
His mother broke down, his father sniffled. He wept alongside them as memories of his brother came gushing down his head.
When his emotional pang sedimented, he took out the chalice from his pocket and showed it to his mother.
“Before he died, he gave me this. It keeps that monster cloud away.”
He then gave it to his mother saying,
“I want you to always keep it with you. Never lose it. Never let it go.”
Just as he handed it to her, the words of his brother came back to his mind. What had Ron asked of him again?
But it was too late for that. His mother was holding the chalice, and a big grimace flared up her face. Her eyes twinkled as it reddened gradually. He then turned towards his red eyed father, and he was there laughing too.
That’s when he looked up, right over his head, there it was. The red cloud whipping out long tentacles at him. It was over. It was all over for poor Carl.